focus on event marketing this year

Mall developer Central Pattana will focus on event marketing this year by coordinating with its partners in planning for 1,200 events at its 11 shopping centres, 20 per cent more than last year.

This will increase its traffic by between 6 and 7 per cent and sales value by between 10 and 20 per cent compared with last year, executive vice president-marketing Nattakit Tangpoonsinthana said yesterday.

The company has set aside a marketing budget of Bt600 million to Bt700 million to meet its business strategy for this year.

Nattakit said most companies were reducing their spending on marketing by switching from mass media to promoting their products via event marketing.

Meanwhile, Central Pattana's shopping centres are located close to mass transportation and the company is banking on activities to increase customer traffic to its centres. Joint promotion of event marketing at its centres will be a win-win situation for the company and its strategic partners.

"When organising an event, customer traffic and spending will increase by between 10 and 20 per cent, and that will boost our sales value and our strategic partners' sales when compared with normal periods [without events]," he added.

The first event this year is the joint 'The Great Chinese New Year 2009' campaign. This runs from tomorrow through March 1 at all 11 branches nationwide.

Central Pattana has earmarked Bt80 million for the event. Meanwhile, strategic partners such as Central Department Store, Zen Department Store and Super Sport have set aside a combined Bt200 million.

The company expects the number of shoppers to increase by up to 15 per cent, driving sales growth by 20 per cent from this event when compared with the same period last year.

"Although the country's economy may be negatively impacted by the global downturn, with most people reducing their spending in the final quarter of last year, Chinese New Year is the traditional time for Chinese people to celebrate and spend. As a result, we believe this event will drive our shopping-centre traffic growth and create more sales value," he said.

Last year, Central Pattana recorded traffic growth of 8 per cent. Central Plaza Lat Phrao posted the highest traffic with 140,000 shoppers a day, followed by CentralWorld with 130,000 and Central Plaza Rama II with 110,000.